The measles count across the United States is now sitting at 880 cases with its epicenter in New York still being in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community.
By ILANIT CHERNICKA nurse holds a vial of measles, mumps and rubella vaccine(photo credit: REUTERS/BRIAN SNYDER)
The measles count in New York City has hit 535 cases since the outbreak in October, the New York Daily News reported on Friday.According to the article, the measles count across the United States is now sitting at 880 cases with its epicenter in New York still being in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community.According to the New York Daily News, Health Commissioner Dr. Oxiris Barbot said that “given the high vaccination rates in Sunset Park, we do not foresee sustained transmission in this neighborhood.”“However, measles is extremely contagious, and I strongly urge unvaccinated New Yorkers to immediately get the vaccine, unless there is a medical condition that prevents them from doing so,” she emphasized.Even more concerning is that 78% of the cases in New York are located in four Williamsburg zip codes, where residents are required to be inoculated with the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine.The New York Health Commission said that 40 people have been hospitalized with 11 being admitted to the intensive care unit due to complications from the illness.It added that 122 people, have gotten summons for not complying with the vaccination mandate.The Daily News said that according to the Health Department, as of Friday, the city has reported 12 confirmed cases in Sunset Park, in Brooklyn.However, the 12 Sunset Park cases do not seem to be from the Orthodox Jewish Community.The Health Department said no one in New York City has been placed on a “Do Not Board” list during the outbreak to prevent them from flying and risk spreading measles. But the agency said it stopped two individuals who weren’t immune to measles from flying during the three weeks after they were exposed to the virus.
Over the weekend, The National Post reported that health officials in five states warned people believed to be infected with measles, who are planning to travel, that “a federal regulation could prevent them from boarding planes.”“There is nothing unethical or wrong about it,” Martin Cetron, director of the CDC’s Division of Global Migration and Quarantine told The National Post. “It’s just plain common sense that if you have an actively infectious individual, they should not get on an airplane.”According to a CNN article published last week, New York Health officials claimed that “the [measles] outbreak began when an unvaccinated child traveled to Israel and returned home with the highly contagious disease.”Israel has seen over 4000 cases of measles since January, 2018, Israel Hayom reported earlier this month.
